THE CHILDHOOD 



OF CHRIST 







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THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 




THE VIRGIN AND CHILD 

BY GIOVANNI BELLINI 



Pliflto by AUnari 
(Brera, Milan) 



Frontispiece 



The Childhood of Christ 



THE CHILDHOOD 
OF CHRIST 



j4s seen by the T^rimitive 3dasters 



BY 



EMILE CAMMAERTS 



WITH FOURTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1922 

All rights reserved 



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Printed in Great Brifain 









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^ INTRODUCTION 

^ ' I ^HERE is, in our living-room, an old chest containing some 

^^'^ X photographs of much older pictures brought back years ago 

from Italy. Around this chest we gather, every Sunday, my 

children, my wife, and myself, each of us holding a different picture, 

representing some episode of the life of Christ. 

After reading the few verses which inspired the artists, we talk 
together, trying to imagine what really did happen, and how near 
or how far from the truth may be the various pictures which we 
have before us. 

These quiet talks are not Bible lessons; it was quite by chance 
that we began them. They are done without any preparation, 
each of us contributing his or her small share of remarks and 
suggestions. The method may be criticized, but the children 
like it, because they feel, no doubt, that they are brought closer 
to the sacred story when holding in their hands some concrete 
image and being able to see as well as to hear. 

It has been suggested to me that other small children, and 
even the big children some of us still happily remain, might 
derive pleasure and benefit from our Sunday talks, and I have 
endeavoured, in this first volume on the Childhood of Christ, to 
outline briefly some of the results which we have achieved. 

It would have been, no doubt, more entertaining to record 
fully our conversation, but, as this conversation is apt to wander 
from the point, the result might have proved disappointing or at 
least incongruous. It is not always easy to fix the attention of 

V 



vi INTRODUCTION 

children on the same subject, and to Hmit the scope of their 
inexhaustible curiosity and inquisitiveness. I have been, therefore, 
reluctantly compelled to condense the matter of each subject 
within a few pages, with the hope that, if any parents use this 
book as a means of teaching their children, some interesting re- 
marks will be made, and with the comforting thought that I, at 
least, shall not be obliged to answer them. 

Having explained so far the origin of this small work, I need 
not apologize for the want of knowledge displayed, no doubt, 
almost on every page. No attempt has been made to contribute, 
in any way, to the work of Bible criticism undertaken by so many 
learned and inspired teachers ; neither do we pretend to any special 
knowledge of the pictures used as illustrations. 

We took the Gospel text as it stands, and the pictures as we 
found them, contenting ourselves with placing them side by side 
and with drawing some general and obvious conclusions. 

With regard to the choice of the pictures, it is not mine, but 
the children's. They had in their hands a varied collection, rang- 
ing from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century, but, in the 
course of time, they were naturally allowed to choose those which 
they preferred, and seem to have gradually developed a special 
liking for the art of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. 
If you asked them why, they would, no doubt, tell you that Giotto 's 
angels are '' really angels," while Raphael's are " merely children 
with wings, "and that Giotto's Christ is "really God, "while Raphael's 
is ** merely a man." In case this should not satisfy the reader, I 
may perhaps be allowed to point out that the painters and sculptors 
of this early period kept very close to the text, and to the simple 
traditions connected with it, painting the episodes as they believed 
they occurred, without letting their imagination wander far afield. 
I might also add that these artists were more concerned with 



INTRODUCTION vii 

teaching the Faith than with displaying their talent, and that the 
faithful representations of the Gospel scenes were for them the 
aim, not the pretext. But these are merely a grown-up's clumsy 
suggestions, which are of small value compared with the sure 
instinct of a child's faith. 

This little work would never have been written but for the 
stimulating eagerness of my small collaborators. It would, no 
doubt, never have been published but for the kind spirit in which 
the S.P.C.K. received my suggestion. It is for the public to decide 
whether it should be completed by the publication, in the same 
spirit and on the same plan, of a second volume on Jesus' Active 
Life, and of a third on His Passion. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. ANNUNCIATION OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST - - I 

II. ANNUNCIATION TO MARY - _ , , ^r 

III. THE VISITATION - - - - "IS 

IV. NATIVITY OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST - - -23 
V. NATIVITY OF CHRIST - - - - -29 

VI. THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS - - "39 

VII. THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI - - - "49 

VIII. THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE - - "59 

IX. THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT - - - - Gj 

X. CHRIST AMONG THE DOCTORS - - - ^77 



IX 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Virgin and Child. {Giovanni Bellini) 



- Fro7itispiece 



PAGE 

Annunciation of St. John the Baptist. [A, Pisano) Facing 4 

Annunciation to Mary (i). {Giotto) - - ,, 10 

Annunciation to Mary (2). (Giotto) - - ,, 11 

The Visitation. {Giotto) - - - - ,, 18 

Visitation and Nativity of St. John the Baptist. 

(Andrea Pisano) - - - - ,, 26 

Zacharias writing the Child's Name and St. John 
THE Baptist in the Wilderness. {Andrea 
Pisano) - - - - - -,,28 

Nativity of Christ. (Giotto) - - - ,, 32 

Nativity of Christ. (Gentile da Fabriano) - ,, 34 

Adoration of the Magi. (Gentile da Fabriano) - ,, 53 

Presentation in the Temple. (Giotto) - - ;, 63 

Flight into Egypt. (School of Giotto) - - ,, 71 

Massacre of the Innocents. (Fra Angelico) - ,, 73 

Jesus returns to the House of His Parents. 

(School of Giotto) - - - - >; 83 



Xl 



CHAPTER I 
ANNUNCIATION OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST 



CHAPTER I 
ANNUNCIATION OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST 

THIS is the story of the annunciation of the nativity of 
St. John, called the Baptist to distinguish him from St. John 
the Apostle and Evangelist. The Gospel story, as told by the old 
painters and sculptors, usually begins with the annunciation of 
the nativity of Christ, and the story of St. John the Baptist is 
treated separately. We here follow St. Luke, who tells us of the 
nativity of St. John, before speaking of the nativity of Christ, 
because St. John precedes Christ and prepares the way for Him. 
St. Luke wants us to understand the importance of St. John's 
mission, and how God sent the child to Zacharias and Elisabeth 
in order that he should straighten the path for the coming of 
Christ. Such preparation was all the more necessary because 
men, at that time, had fallen into sin and had turned away from 
God. They could not have seen Him if a great Prophet had not 
awakened their conscience. St. John urged repentance, Christ 
gave forgiveness. Jesus said of St. John that no man born of a 
woman was greater than he (Matt . xi . 1 1 ), and the old masters, when 
representing their vision of Christ enthroned in heaven, almost 
always placed the Virgin on His right hand and St. John on His left. 
" There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain 
priest named Zacharias . . . and his wife was of the daughters 
of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both 
righteous before God. . . . And they had no child . . . and 
they both were now well stricken in years." Zacharias and Elisa- 
beth seem to have been chosen, not only because they " walked 

3 



4 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

in all the commandments and ordinances of God blameless," so 
that they would bring up the child in the same faith, but also 
because they had been praying for a very long time to have a child. 
They had grown so old that they had given up hope. 

The birth of St. John was the reward of their virtue and faith- 
fulness. We must not forget that, for the Jews, not to have 
children was considered a disgrace. It is told — not in the 
Gospel, but in legends written at a later date — that the Virgin 
Mary was sent in the same way to two righteous old people, 
Joachim, her father, and Anna, her mother; and there is still a 
popular tradition in Europe according to which the children of 
old parents are predestined to great things. This may be because 
their unexpected birth is looked upon as supernatural, but in the 
case of Zacharias and Elisabeth, and of Joachim and Anna, it 
looks far more as if the child born to them was all the more 
wonderful because they had deserved this blessing through a 
long life of goodness and resignation. 

'* And it came to pass that while he (Zacharias) executed the 
priest's office before God . . . his lot was to burn incense when 
he went into the temple of the Lord . . . and there appeared 
unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the 
altar of incense." 

The illustration of the annunciation of St. John's nativity is 
taken from the southern bronze door of the Baptistery in Florence — 
that is to say, of the small church, annexed to the Cathedral, where 
the baptism of infants takes place. The sculptures are attributed 
to a great artist of the fourteenth century, Andrea Pisano. The 
panel on the left-hand side illustrates faithfully St . Luke 's text . The 
piece of tracery on the top suggests the inner part of the Temple 
or Holy Place, with a lamp hanging from the roof. Zacharias, 
in full priestly garments, is still waving the censer when the angel 



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ANNUNCIATION OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST 5 

appears before him, one hand raised to emphasize his words. 
Zacharias was alone, the Holy Place being isolated from the rest 
of the Temple, so that " the whole multitude of the people " 
who " were praying without " did not see the winged figure. 

" When Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon 
him. But the angel said unto him. Fear not, Zacharias: for thy 
prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, 
and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and 
gladness ; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great 
in the sight of the Lord. . . . And he shall go before Him . . . 
to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.'* 

Almost in the same words, the angel Gabriel spoke, six months 
later, to the Virgin Mary, who also was troubled at his appearing 
until the angel reassured her: " Fear not." He uses the same 
comforting words in addressing Joseph (Matt. i. 20). It was quite 
natural that the apparition should startle them. To Zacharias 
and Joseph it was unexpected. If Mary was better prepared, 
it troubled her nevertheless, for even the sight of the humblest 
messenger of God must fill with awe the greatest saint. There is, 
however, a difference. As soon as Gabriel reassures Mary, every 
trouble ceases for her, she believes in every word he says and 
rejoices in the good tidings. Zacharias, on the contrary, lacks 
confidence: " Whereby shall I know this ?" he asks, " for I am an 
old man, and my wife well stricken in years." The birth of the 
child seems to him impossible: He does not ask, " How shall this 
be?" but ''Whereby shall I know this?" What sign, what 
proof, will you give me, that you are speaking the truth ? 
Gabriel gives him a sign — and a punishment: "And behold, thou 
shalt be dumb . . . until the day that these things shall be 
performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be 
fulfilled in their season." There is, therefore, a difference between 

3 



6 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

the fear the angel inspires in Zacharias and the fear he inspires 
in Mary. It is the supernatural character of the apparition 
which affects Zacharias more than its beauty and wonder. He 
has been unexpectedly brought into contact with a miracle. 
It is more the extraordinary aspect of the angel which strikes 
him than his radiance and glory. He thinks more of what 
he is than of whence he comes. He argues with him; he 
has faith enough to see, but not enough to understand and to 
believe at once. 

'' And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he 
tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not 
speak unto them : and they perceived that he had seen a vision in 
the temple : for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless." 

This scene is shown on the next panel of Pisano's door. The 
crowd is represented by a small group of five draped figures walking 
towards Zacharias as if anxious to hear what occurred. (Look 
at the sweeping lines of the draperies.) Zacharias lifts his left 
hand to stop their questions, while his right hand points to his 
lips, showing that he is unable to speak. The first man of the crowd 
points towards the sky, having already perceived that the priest 
had seen a heavenly vision, while the others receive the news 
with amazement. 

Zacharias only recovered his speech after the birth of St. John, 
for it was necessary for him to see in order to believe. Thus we 
shall hear that St. Thomas had to touch Christ's wounds before 
believing in His resurrection. Let us pray to be good men such as 
Zacharias and St. Thomas, who believed after they had seen, but let 
us also pray to be given the faith of the Virgin and of those others 
who did not need to see in order to believe, for " blessed are 
they that have not seen and yet have believed." 



/ 



CHAPTER 11 
ANNUNCIATION TO MARY 



CHAPTER II 

ANNUNCIATION TO MARY 

''AND in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God 
y"% unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth ..." 

It is the second time that we see an angel play an important 
part in the story. It will not be the last. After announcing the 
birth of St. John, the angels announce the coming of Christ, direct 
the shepherds towards the stable, warn the kings not to go back to 
Herod, and urge Joseph to fly with the Mother and Child into 
Egypt. 

Angels are the messengers of God; it is therefore natural 
that they should direct the action of those who are connected 
either with the birth or with the death of Jesus, for we must not 
forget that they appeared to Him in the Garden of Olives, and 
announced His resurrection to the holy women as they announced 
His Nativity to the shepherds. They are present at the time of 
the coming of the Son of God and at the time of His leaving the 
world. During His active life they are never mentioned, except 
when they comfort Christ in the desert. They no longer exert 
any influence on the course of events. If they had done so, 
Christ would not have struggled and suffered as a man, and it is 
only on account of His weakness and of His manhood that we 
are able to understand Him. He deprived Himself deliberately 
of direct supernatural help during the three years of His ministry. 
All He did was in the strength of the Spirit, and He taught us 
that any man with the same faith could do the same. Remember 

9 



10 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

how He admonished St. Peter, when His enemies, led by Judas, came 
to arrest Him in the garden: " Thinkest thou that I cannot 
now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than 
twelve legions of angels ?" (Matt. xxvi. 53). 

The angel Gabriel therefore came *' to a Virgin espoused to a 
man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the 
Virgin's name was Mary . . . and said, Hail, thou art highly 
favoured, the Lord is with thee : blessed art thou among women." 

According to the legends concerning the life of the Virgin, which 
I have already mentioned, Mary was brought to the Temple at a 
very early age by Joachim and Anna, to be educated there in the 
service of God. When she was old enough to be married, a voice 
was heard in the Temple announcing that she must wed a man 
belonging to the house of David. The High Priest, accordingly, 
summoned the men of the house of David to the Temple and bade 
each of them lay on the altar a wooden rod. Joseph, being older 
than the others, did not think that he could be chosen. According 
to the story, his rod bloomed and a white dove alighted upon it. 
Following the commandment he had received, the High Priest 
joined Joseph and Mary's hands, while some of the rejected suitors 
broke their rods to show their disappointment. This scene 
has been painted over and over again. Though it is called the 
marriage of the Virgin, we must not forget that this ceremony was 
merely a betrothal, Mary going back to live with her parents, 
while Joseph was preparing their future home. This explains why 
the Virgin is troubled at the words of the angel, for she cannot 
understand how, not being yet married, the prediction could be 
fulfilled : " And, behold, thou shalt . . . bring forth a son, and shalt 
call His name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the 
Son of the Highest . . . And he shall reign over the house of 
Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end." 




Facing p. lo 



THE ANNUNCIATION TO MARY (1) 

BY GIOTTO 



Photo by Alinari 
(Arena Chapel, Padua) 




Facing p. / 1 



THP: annunciation to iNIARV Cl) 

BY GIOTTO 



Photo by Alinari 
{Arena Chapel, Padua) 



ANNUNCIATION TO MARY n 

The masters of the fourteenth and even of the fifteenth century- 
varied the attitude of the figures. Sometimes the angel is seen 
standing and the Virgin kneeling, sometimes the Virgin standing 
and the angel kneeling, sometimes the figures bow to each other. 
When he painted the Annunciation on the walls of the Arena 
chapel in Padua, Giotto followed the oldest tradition according 
to which both the angel and the Virgin Mary are kneeling, for 
the artist understood that, in this case, the angel does not merely 
deliver a message, but already reveres in the Virgin the future 
Mother of God and the sacred mystery of the Incarnation. At a 
later period of art we shall see Mary sitting or kneeling on a terrace 
overlooking a garden radiant with flowers, but the earlier and 
simpler interpretation places the scene in familiar surroundings. 
For Giotto, Mary is in her home, absorbed in prayer, when the 
miracle occurs. She still holds, in her right hand, her prayer- 
book. Her dress is by no means that of a poor woman, but every 
detail suggests the greatest simplicity. The only piece of furni- 
ture visible is a carved wooden desk, and the curtains, of plain 
material, are fastened on the pillars in a loose knot, in the same 
way as most housewives fix them nowadays for purposes of clean- 
ing. This single detail gives to the scene a touch of homeliness 
which adds to the wonder of the apparition. The architecture 
completes the setting. Its main purpose is purely decorative, 
as it fills the space available on both sides of the arch separating 
the Choir from the body of the chapel. 

*' And the angel . . . said unto her. The Holy Ghost shall 
come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow 
thee : therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee 
shall be called the Son of God. . . . For with God nothing 
shall be impossible.'* 

In many pictures a hand, or even the figure of God surrounded 



12 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

with angels, is shown in the heavens, while along the rays of light 
running from this vision to Mary flutters a white dove, represent- 
ing the Holy Ghost. This symbol must have been suggested to the 
artists by the scene described at the time of Christ's Baptism: 
'* And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon 
Him " (Luke iii. 22). 

Sometimes also a vase in which grows a lily, emblem of purity, 
stands between the angel and the Virgin, or the angel himself 
carries the lily in his left hand, while his right is raised in admoni- 
tion. We have chosen on purpose a picture in which the dove 
and the Hly do not appear, in order to show that the great religious 
artists did not need, though they frequently used, these symbols 
to express the mysterious meaning of the angelic greeting. If 
we look carefully at Giotto's picture, it seems as if the angel 
conveyed the words of the Gospel by a mute salutation and as if 
Mary understood him. 

To be the mother of the promised Messiah was the most 
cherished wish of every girl in Israel. Mary must have yearned 
for this blessing, though she never thought herself worthy of it. 
The truth is conveyed to her by the apparition of Gabriel and his 
reverent attitude more than by his words and explanations. She 
kneels in grateful submission and says : '' Behold the handmaid of 
the Lord ; be it unto me according to thy word." 

That she should have felt some pride would have been only 
human, but the first word she utters, when such unheard-of dis- 
tinction is conferred upon her, is " Behold the handmaid,'' a word 
which, in English, suggests the servant who wears out her hands 
cleaning the dishes and washing the floors. God had placed her 
above all women ; she acknowledged this blessing by placing herself 
below them all, as if she had never more fully realized her unworthi- 
ness than at the very time when she was chosen as the most worthy. 



ANNUNCIATION TO MARY 13 

If a movement of pride would have been natural in an ordinary 
woman, few saints surely would have resisted a feeling of doubt 
or curiosity. But, while Zacharias asks for a sign, Mary scarcely 
dares to fathom the meaning of the mysterious message. In a 
complete forgetfulness of self, she surrenders to the will of God : 
" Be it unto me according to thy word." 

This humility is not the result of weakness, but of strength. 
Mary, as seen by Giotto and his school, is not the delicate and 
emaciated girl so often pictured b}^ later artists. Both her figure 
and her face reveal almost as much strength and energy as those 
of the sacred messenger kneeling before her. If we compare this 
type of the Virgin in her girlhood with that of Mary in the supreme 
hour of her trial, during the tragic scenes of the Passion, we ma}^ 
realize the reason for which Giotto instinctively turned to an image 
revealing great powers of endurance. For, in spite of the bright- 
ness of the scene and the radiant light flooding the room, this 
Annunciation, like those of all the best religious painters, is en- 
dowed with a kind of harmonious melancholy. It is clearly con- 
veyed in our illustrations by the solemn attitude of the angel 
and the grave expression in Mary's face. She is not concerned for 
herself, she is not even overwhelmed by the task imposed upon 
her, she is already the Mother, and thinks of her Child and of the 
tragedy which must come to the Son of God living among men. 

Her submission is not only the submission of the faithful 
servant who obeys his master's orders, it is the submission of the 
woman who consents to bring forth a Child, not for her sake nor 
for His sake, but for the sake of the unknown and often cruel 
multitudes which He is destined to save. 



CHAPTER III 
THE VISITATION 



CHAPTER III 

THE VISITATION 

" A ND Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country 
/"m. with haste, into a city of Juda; and entered into the 
house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth." 

The angel had announced to Mary that her " cousin Elisabeth " 
had also conceived a son. Immediately after this announcement 
Mary leaves Nazareth, on the edge of the plain of Esdraelon in 
Galilee, to undertake a long journey through Samaria and the 
higher hills of Judea. We do not know exactly in which town 
was the house of Zacharias, but even if it stood on the border of 
Samaria, it was at a distance of eighty to ninety miles, over rough 
roads and mule tracks. The journey on a donkey's back must 
have taken from five to six days ; this leads us to believe that Mary 
was very anxious to meet Elisabeth. It was not in order to share 
with her the secret of the Annunciation, for this was too holy to be 
revealed to anyone. Neither can it have been to look after her, 
since three months had still to elapse before the birth of St. John. 
It is more likely that a great spiritual friendship bound the two 
women together. 

Mary's mother was, no doubt, dead by this time, and Mary, 
feeling instinctively the need of protection and spiritual comfort, 
turned naturally towards her cousin, w^ho was like an elder sister 
to her. The haste with which she set out upon this uncomfortable 
journey is in keeping with the exalted salutation she met with on 
her arrival. Both women had shared the same faith in the coming 

17 



1 8 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

of the Messiah and the same hope that they might be the instru- 
ment in the fulfilment of this prophecy. Elisabeth knew already 
that she was going to bring forth a great prophet who would pre- 
pare the way for the Saviour of Israel. Mary had just heard that 
it was through herself that His coming would be accomplished. 
It is easy to understand, therefore, that the two women should 
be attracted to each other and that the bond uniting their two 
children should be manifested by their reunion. 

" And it came to pass, that, when Ehsabeth heard the salutation 
of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb ; and Elisabeth was filled 
with the Holy Ghost : And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, 
Blessed art thou among women." 

These are the very words which Gabriel used when he greeted 
Mary in Nazareth, so that the Visitation may be considered as the 
confirmation of the Annunciation. As the child moved within 
her " Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost," and God put 
into her mouth the words uttered by His messenger. She is 
overjoyed, at the same time, that this great blessing should come 
to her greatest friend and humbly surprised that Mary, glorified 
by this new grace, should have come such a long way to visit her. 

" And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should 
come to me ?" 

This was evidently the moment pictured by Giotto in the fresco 
of the Arena Chapel in Padua. 

The older woman bends before Mary, extending her hand to 
support her; she looks up anxiously into her eyes and smiles. 

In a crude but expressive way the old painter insists on the 
smile and on the humility of Elisabeth's attitude before Mary. 
The pathos of this scene can only be realized if one remembers that 
the blessing which had come to Mary would have been the object 
of envy of most women in Israel. Not for one moment does 




THE VISIT-ATION 

BV GIOTTO 



p. I8 



Photo by Aliitari 
( Arefta Chapel, Padua) 



THE VISITATION 19 

Elisabeth dream that she might have been placed, when a girl, 
in the same position as Mary, nor does any shadow of regret mar 
her joy in seeing the most sacred wish of her friend fulfilled. 
The Visitation, as painted by Giotto, has a very wide meaning. 
It tells us of the uplifting joy which comes from rejoicing over 
other people's happiness. Those who can only be happy when 
some blessing comes upon them, are the prisoners of their own 
fate, and remain narrowly dependent on its sudden changes. 
Those who rejoice over the blessings of others are freed from such 
shackles. Whatever happens to them, they will always find in this 
world some occasion to be thankful ; every happy man or woman 
they meet will give them a share in their joy, without this joy 
being in the least diminished. It is true that Elisabeth has just 
had the most unexpected happiness, but this does not in the least 
lessen the significance of the scene, for it is not the humble who are 
inclined to envy, it is usually those who, having much, desire 
more. The humility of Elisabeth before Mary is relatively easy 
to explain, but that vSt. John's mother should bow her head before 
the mother of the One whom St. John acknowledged for his Master 
shows that Elisabeth was freed from any mean thought and that 
even a mother's pride, which is, perhaps, the most excusable of 
human weaknesses, had completely deserted her. 

The expression of Mary, on the other hand, remains grave. 
Elisabeth's greeting helps her to realize more fully the mysterious 
meaning of the first salutation. Her seriousness contrasts with 
Elisabeth's emotion; she bends her head towards her cousin, while 
with her hand placed under Elisabeth's arm she seems to prevent 
her from kneeling; in her own eyes she is not the Lord's Mother, 
but merely God's handmaiden, and it is to God alone that all 
praise is due: *' My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit 
hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low 



20 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

estate of His handmaiden : for, behold, from henceforth all genera- 
tions shall call me blessed." 

The Magnificat is only a development of Mary's answer to 
Gabriel: " Behold the handmaid of the Lord." It insists still 
more on the apparent contradiction between the low estate of a 
poor girl and the unequalled blessing she receives, but instead of 
attributing this unexpected happiness to her merits, Mary seems 
to see in it only a new proof of God's power. " For He that is 
mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is His name. . . . 
He hath shewed strength with His arm; He hath scattered the 
proud in the imagination of their hearts. . . . He hath filled 
the hungry with good things ; and the rich He hath sent empty 
away." 

We see here the first expression of an idea which pervades the 
Gospel. It does not mean that the spiritual blessings are the 
exclusive privilege of the poor, but rather that poverty — not 
necessarily want — prepares the soul of man to receive them, 
while riches distract from the thought of God. The foundation 
and the spread of Christianity are entirely built on this idea that 
the last shall be first and the first last, that material poverty will 
be compensated for by spiritual riches, and that material riches 
are an obstacle to the liberation of the soul and to its communion 
with God through the Holy Ghost. 

Most of Christ's first disciples were poor working people. 
It was through the slave quarters of Rome that Christianity 
conquered the Roman Empire, and, many centuries after the Faith 
had triumphed, all the great saints and reformers, all the founders 
of monastic orders, such as St. Francis, went back to the teaching 
of the Sermon on the Mount as to the purest source of Christian 
inspiration. 

Simplicity and frugality of life ought never, according to the 



THE VISITATION 21 

Christian doctrine, to be imposed by circumstances ; they are not 
a necessity, but a blessing, they ought not to be adopted as an 
unavoidable hardship, but deliberately chosen as the freest and 
happiest way of living. The poor are free from care, free from 
grief, pride, and jealousy; their soul is like an empty house which 
needs only an altar to be turned into a church. 

Twelve centuries after the Magnificat was first spoken, Francis, 
then a rich young merchant in Assisi, while enjoying himself with 
his friends at night, was struck by a sudden inspiration and stopped 
behind them. When questioned by his friends, who suggested 
that he looked so pensive because he was thinking of taking a wife, 
he replied: " Truly have ye spoken, for that I thought of taking 
unto me a bride nobler and richer and fairer than ever ye have seen." 
It was only years later that they realized that he had not spoken 
of a human bride, but of " true religion and poverty." In the 
roof of the lower church of Assisi in which the saint was buried, 
Giotto, about a century later, painted the symbolic marriage of 
Francis with Poverty. When looking at Giotto's pictures and 
wondering how they can depict so faithfully the Christian teach- 
ing of the Gospel, we must never forget that Brother Francis, 
through his humility, his poverty and obedience, had awakened 
throughout Europe a powerful Christian revival which still 
inspired poets, painters, and sculptors many years after his death. 



CHAPTER IV 
NATIVITY OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST 



CHAPTER IV 
NATIVITY OF ST, JOHN THE BAPTIST 

THE nativity of St. John preceded the nativity of Jesus, 
as the annunciation to Zacharias preceded the annun- 
ciation to Mary, so that, during the first chapter of St. Luke's 
Gospel, the two stories run parallel, with the exception of the visit 
paid by Mary to Elisabeth. We know nothing of the relation- 
ship between Jesus and St. John during their boyhood, and it is 
not until the baptism of Christ, at the beginning of His active 
life, that the prophet and his Master are brought into contact again. 

There is a marked contrast between the nativity of St. John 
and that of Jesus. St. Luke tells us that Elisabeth's '' neighbours 
and cousins " shared her great joy when the child was born, 
and our illustration (another panel of Pisano's door) shows us the 
mother, lying on a couch, attended by servants or friends, and the 
child washed by his nurse. 

According to St. Luke's story, no special miracle accompanies 
this wonderful birth; we see no angels hovering over the house, no 
star shining in the sky, but, on the eighth day, when the time came 
to give a name to the child, a discussion arose between the mother 
and her relatives, the first saying that he should be called John, while 
the others wanted to call him Zacharias, " after the name of his 
father." St. Luke seems to suggest that this naming of St. John 
by Elisabeth was inspired in her by the Holy Ghost rather than 
communicated in writing b}^ Zacharias. Her '* cousins and 
neighbours " objected, saying, '^ There is none of thy kindred 
that is called by this name." 

25 



26 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

On another panel of Pisano's door we see the child brought 
to Zacharias by EHsabeth (notice her halo) and two attendants, 
in order that the father should express his wish. " And they made 
signs to his father, how he would have him called . And he asked for 
a writing table (meaning a tablet), and wrote, saying. His name 
is John. And they marvelled all." They marvelled at the fact 
that both father and mother, moved by the same Spirit, had agreed 
to give the same strange name to the child of their old age. 

Pisano gives us all the essential features of the quiet, impressive 
scene. On the right, two young women, following Elisabeth, 
whisper to each other. In the centre, the saint reverently holds 
the babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, her cheek tenderly pressed 
on his head. On the left, Zacharias is seen, seated, writing on his 
knee. While we may find more interesting details in Giotto's 
frescoes, and in some paintings of the early fifteenth century, this 
door is, perhaps, one of the best examples we know of a faithful 
interpretation of the Gospel text. Great sculpture is necessarily 
chary of incidents. Like the Gospel, it avoids any detail which is 
not essential to the scene. It relies for its effect on the perfect 
harmony of a few well-chosen lines. 

But a greater miracle was still to happen. Gabriel had told 
Zacharias that, as a sign of the truth of his prediction, the old man 
should be dumb until the day when the things he announced should 
be performed. Now that the performance had taken place, at 
the very moment when the father had named his child, " his mouth 
was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and 
praised God." 

Moved by the Holy Ghost, Zacharias prophesies in his own 
house, very much as Simeon prophesies in the Temple. It is 
another example of the parallelism of the two stories. The annun- 
ciation to Zacharias prepares the annunciation to Mary ; the nativity 



NATIVITY OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST 27 

of St. John prepares the nativity of Christ; Zacharias' prophecy 
prepares Simeon's, as the Baptist will prepare the way of his Lord. 

All they that heard Zacharias' words might well have laid them 
up in their hearts, for he did not refer first to the child which was 
presented to him, but to the fulfilment of the promise made by 
God to his fathers, and of the oath which God swore to Abraham, 
that Israel being delivered out of the hand of his enemies " might 
serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness " all the days 
of his life. " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel ; for He hath visited 
and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation 
for us in the house of His servant David." 

Then Zacharias surely rose, and took the child from his mother's 
arms and addressed him, saying : *' And thou, child, shalt be called 
the prophet of the Highest : for thou shalt go before the face of the 
Lord to prepare His ways ; to give knowledge of salvation unto His 
people by the remission of their sins." Remember what Gabriel 
had said: " And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power 
of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the 
disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people 
prepared for the Lord." The second prophecy is far more precise 
than the first. We hear now of St. John's essential mission: to 
prepare the ways of Christ, to walk in front of Him, as an elder 
brother, and remove the stones and thorns from His path; " to 
give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their 
sins." Christ came as a blessing, healing bodies, healing souls, 
bringing forgiveness and salvation, but St. John had to clear the 
way before Him, stirring souls to repentance, provoking confession, 
washing the sins away with the waters of Jordan. He ploughed 
the field before the Sower came. Others, later, carried the seed all 
over the world and saw the crop rise. He alone tore up the ground 
with his fierce eloquence, taking on his shoulders the hard, ungrate- 



28 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

ful task of killing the snakes and uprooting the weeds, leaving to 
a greater One than himself the benefit of his work. 

No wonder that, speaking of him, Jesus placed him in the fore- 
front of mankind, for he worked harder than any apostle, without 
any direct help from His Master, for he prepared a way whose end 
he did not know. 

On the next panel we see St. John as a boy, already covered 
with his " camel's hair " cloak, and carrying a small wooden cross 
as a prophetic emblem of the new faith. We see him in a hilly 
country dotted with a few trees on which some birds are perched. 
Such was the vision which the old sculptor had of the " deserts,'* 
which did not mean, necessarily, an arid plain, but suggested 
simply that, from his early youth, the child, who had " waxed 
strong in spirit," lived the life of a hermit, away from the contact 
of men, in order to prepare himself for his strenuous task. Trees 
and caves, no doubt, offered him their shelter, and the beasts and 
birds their companionship. 

The only thing we know of St. John's boyhood is that he was 
strong enough to deprive himself of the society of man. 

We may, perhaps, smile at the way in which Pisano indicates 
roughly the main features of the landscape, trees and rocks and 
birds ; but we should certainly not smile at the small figure of that 
strong, selfless child, leaving the comfort of home and the pro- 
tection of his parents to challenge the perils and privations of 
wilderness and solitude. We should smile still less, seeing that he 
is armed for this tremendous task only with a frail wooden cross, 
not only because the child would be too weak to carry a heavier 
one, but because it is the first time that the great symbol of the 
Christian faith is shown. Surely the old artists were right in 
placing it in St. John's hand, since none did more for it, with less 
ground to hope for its triumph. 



CHAPTER V 
NATIVITY OF CHRIST 



CHAPTER V 

NATIVITY OF CHRIST 

"AND it came to pass in those days, that there went out a 
J V decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be 
taxed. . . . And all went to be taxed, every one into his own 
city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of 
Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Beth- 
lehem . . . To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife." 

According to St . Luke, then, for the second time Mary undertook 
the long journey from Galilee to Judea. The Roman authorities 
who administered the land were making a census of the population, 
and everyone had to report in person to be registered. The wives, 
however, were not compelled to accompany their husbands, and 
It seems strange that, in her condition of health, Mary should 
have gone to Bethlehem and endured the hardships which such 
a journey implied. It may be that she refused to be separated 
from her husband at that time, but the obvious explanation 
is that since all prophecies pointed to the nativity of the 
Saviour in Bethlehem she would have gone there even if no 
census had been held. The coincidence increased the discomfort 
of the journey since, on account of the great concourse of people 
gathered in this town, " there was no room for them in the inn '* 
when they arrived. Neither the circumstances of the journey 
nor the fact that Joseph and Mary were obliged to find a temporary 
shelter for the night implies necessarily that they were reduced to 
great poverty, but popular imagination never wavered on this point. 

3T 



32 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

Many popular carols show us Joseph going anxiously from house 
to house, asking for hospitality, before being obliged to seek refuge 
in the stable. We see him leading the ass on which the weary 
Virgin is riding, and being driven from door to door until they 
reach the outskirts of the town. According to another tradition, 
the host, unable to receive them in the inn, but touched with 
pity, offered them this humble shelter. Whatever the case may be, 
in the Gospel and in all the stories and pictures it inspired during 
the Middle Ages, Joseph and Mary are represented as poor people, 
tramping the roads and driven to share with beasts the roof 
of a stable. The artificial life which we live in towns has con- 
siderably altered our ideas of hospitality. For country-people, 
even for nomad tribes, the welcoming of the poor traveller stands as 
almost the first moral law. Many touching examples of the respect 
due to strangers may be quoted from pagan times, when gods 
disguised as travellers wandered about the earth and rewarded 
those who sheltered them and punished those who drove them from 
their doors, as the elves and fairies do in our old stories. 

Though the circumstances of the Nativity teach us the same 
lesson, the sacred character of the guest, they are different in many 
ways. Joseph and Mary submit mildly to their fate, without 
punishing the innkeeper, without revealing their secret; they do 
exactly what the humblest tramp would have done, and receive 
thankfully the miserable shelter given them. 

Was it a stable or was it a cave ? The only indication we have 
is the mention of a manger by St. Luke and the fact that tradition 
places the scene of the Nativity in a cave on the outskirts of the 
town. Most of the early artists combine the two ideas, as Giotto 
does in our picture, by showing the cave in the background, in 
front of which is built a kind of shed or outhouse, with the manger 
well in evidence, for the manger is the important thing. St. Luke 



NATIVITY OF CHRIST 33 

mentions it no less than three times: Mary wrapped her Child 
** in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger "; it is the sign 
given by the angel to the shepherds and which they recognize 
when they reach the stable. There was no bed ready to receive 
the Baby, so the Son of God was laid in a rough manger, and 
something of the glory of the Nativity shone into the life of the 
beasts. They are in Giotto's picture, as in every picture dealing 
with the subject, though the Gospel does not mention them. 
The presence of the ass is easy to explain ; it must have carried the 
Virgin on the journey. The ox might have been added by tradition ; 
it must have been in the stable before the travellers arrived. In 
most sculptures and pictures the heads of both beasts are seen 
bending over the manger as if to warm the Child with their breath. 
It may seem strange that the Divine character of the Child 
Jesus should have been first acknowledged by dumb beasts, then by 
rough shepherds, and finally by wise kings, but this order is com- 
pletely in accordance with the spirit of the Gospel and of early 
Christian tradition. It emphasizes the humble circumstances of 
the Nativity. Christ was born of the wife of a working man; the 
travellers had been refused shelter by men and been welcomed by 
beasts; the lowest in the order of creation were the first to enjoy 
the privilege of greeting their God. This association of animal 
life with religious tradition occupies an important part in Christian 
legends. Quite apart from the frequent allusions in the Gospels 
to the Lamb, the ass, the birds, etc., we might mention any number 
of animals, like St. Anthony's pig and St. Jerome's lion, which are 
the best friends of the saints and remain faithful to them in the 
hour of persecution. The idea conveyed is that even animals, 
which seem to be outside the Christian scheme, will see the light 
and understand the truth when men whose hearts are hardened 
by doubt and antagonism are not able to understand it. Thus 



34 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

St. Francis of Assisi preaches to the birds and St. Anthony of 
Padua to the fishes. The animals chosen are tame or defenceless; 
the only exceptions, such as St . Jerome's lion and the wolf converted 
by St. Francis, have been won over by the kindness and patience 
of the saints. There is the greatest difference possible between 
the extension of God's blessing from man to beasts and 
flowers and the animal worship so prevalent in other religions. 
Usually these animals are supposed to represent some fierce 
spirit or some redoubtable god under whose power mankind 
trembles. They are not exalted for their meekness or their 
patience, they are worshipped for the terror they inspire. 

Our two pictures show, at one and the same time, two distinct 
episodes of the story, the Annunciation to the Shepherds and the 
Nativity. Giotto, painting in the fourteenth century, boldly 
represented both incidents in the foreground. Gentile da Fabriano, 
a century later, feels already more bound by realistic conventions 
and places the shepherds in the background of his picture. We 
are only concerned, at present, with the part of these illustrations 
dealing with the Nativity. Giotto, according to the oldest tra- 
dition, shows the Virgin reclining on a couch, but her attitude, 
bending over the child, who had just been taken up from the 
manger by an attendant, is a new departure from the point of view 
of Italian art, though it may be already found in earlier works 
among the sculptures of French cathedrals. The traditional 
representation, in the earlier centuries, placed the manger behind 
the couch, while the Virgin lay in front of it in an impassive 
attitude. Giotto infused a new life into the subject by insisting 
on the womanly and motherly feelings of the Mother for her 
Child. The movement of the arms and the expression of the eyes 
reveal awe and tenderness, wonder and joy. The earlier painters 
showed us theMotherof God ; the more modern painters have shown 



NATIVITY OF CHRIST 35 

us again and again striking pictures of human maternity ; but it is 
only during a short period that artists were able to express both 
feelings at the same time, so that we do not know where human 
wonder ends and where religious awe begins. It will be noticed 
that; in Gentile's picture, the Baby, freed from its swaddUng 
clothes, lies on the ground while Mary kneels over Him absorbed 
in prayer. This new interpretation of the subject was generally 
adopted in the fifteenth century, as it lent itself to more graceful 
grouping and a better effect of light and shade, the radiant figure 
of the Child illuminating the cave and the stable. The kneeling 
position of ox and ass belongs to the same period. It is generally 
adopted by Fra Angelico, and expresses, in a delightful way, this 
union of man and beast in the common worship of the Child to 
which I have alluded above. 

As for Joseph, he is always imagined, during the early period, 
in a sitting position, drowsing and wrapped up in his cloak. He is 
an old man, very tired with the journey and with the trouble he 
must have taken to make Mary as comfortable as possible for the 
night, lighting the fire, fetching water, according to popular ideas, 
and rendering whatever service he could. He has given way to 
sleep at the very moment when the miracle for which he has worked 
so hard occurs. The best of men, he is only endowed with 
human strength and weakness. Like St. Peter, St. James and St. 
John in the Garden of Olives, he could not watch long enough. 

The Gospel gives us a very short account of Christ's childhood. 
When, therefore, we think of our Saviour, it is either as a little 
child or as a grown-up man, so that womanhood in the Virgin, 
childhood, and manhood are sanctified by the Incarnation. Never 
before in the story of religions had the idea of God taken the shape 
of a new-born babe; never had one seen common folk and great 
kings bend their heads before the weakness of a small Child, as 



36 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

if the contrast between their power and His weakness increased 
the wonder of His Divinity. Many false gods had come to 
mankind in pomp and glory, making great display of their super- 
natural power, but the true God came under the humblest and 
weakest form He could assume, among the humblest and poorest 
surroundings. 

But there is another lesson to draw from the Nativity. It is 
taught by Christ Himself when He declares later that, unless we 
" become as little children," we " shall not enter into the kingdom 
of heaven." There is something sacred in the newness of life 
when the creature, just released from the hands of God, still 
retains, so to speak, the freshness of a divine dew. Even now, in 
spite of the unhealthy conditions under which many children are 
born, there is no period in human life when man seems so near to 
God as in childhood. This feeling is not difficult to justify. It is, 
perhaps, because children are so instinctively sincere; they have 
not yet been spoilt by the world, they have not yet been obliged 
to hide their thoughts to adapt themselves to adverse circum- 
stances. If they are well, they are naturally happy; everything 
is for them a discovery, a great adventure; even when they cry, 
it is only to claim attention. They may weep a great deal, but 
their tears are never bitter; they open limpid eyes on a limpid 
world, ever ready to admire, to love, to worship. Unless we be 
like these little children, unless we succeed in keeping the ready 
love, the indestructible hope, and the steady faith which God gave 
us when we came into this world, we shall not be able to return 
to Him. Education is not merely the effort we make to rise above 
childhood by strengthening our character and controlling our 
passions, it is also the effort we make to remain little children, to 
preserve the treasure of the spontaneity and sincerity which was 
given to us at our birth. Unless we succeed in completing our 



NATIVITY OF CHRIST 37 

journey without losing this treasure, we shall not find our way back 
to the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Every man, in order to become great, must remain little ; there 
is no true greatness without humility. Christ was born a child; 
most men, when they are born, are nearer Christ than they will 
ever be in the rest of their lives, and if, in many ways, men and 
women can teach children, in the most essential things they can be 
taught by them. Every baby is an example to us; it teaches us 
to be true above all things, and to find untold happiness in the 
smallest gifts of God. 



i 



i 



/ 



i 



CHAPTER VI 
THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS 



CHAPTER VI 

THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS 

" A ND there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the 
/~V field, keeping watch over their flock by night. . . . " 
This remark suggests that the Nativity did not necessarily occur 
in winter, when the Christian world celebrates the event. It is not 
the custom in Mediterranean countries, and specially in a hilly 
country like Judea, to keep the flocks in the fields at night in 
December. Christian tradition, however, at a very early date, 
fixed Christmas on December 25th in spite of this circumstance, 
which may have been caused by exceptional conditions. In 
Italian art this does not appear so clearly, though it may be 
noticed that the tree in Gentile's picture is leafless; but further 
north, in Flanders and Germany, for instance, the early painters 
make a special feature of the wintry landscape. Many Christmas 
carols in Western Europe show us Mary and Joseph walking 
through drifts of snow or Joseph breaking the ice with his staff 
to draw water from the well. Poets and painters were, no doubt, 
impressed by the contrast between the miraculous birth and 
the hostile conditions in which it occurred. There was the same 
reason to place the Nativity in December as to dwell on the poor 
circumstances in which Joseph and Mary were placed, and on the 
beasts receiving in the stable the Child which had been refused 
hospitality by men. Popular imagination, no doubt, developed 
to a great extent the mere suggestion regarding these circumstances 
which may be found in the Gospels. The wonder of the miracle 

41 



42 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

was increased by the fact that it occurred in the most adverse 
surroundings. The least which can be said in favour of this 
popular interpretation is that it is entirely in accordance with 
the spirit of the Gospels as expressed in the Magnificat — the poor 
will be exalted and the rich will be sent empty away — and, else- 
where, that the first shall be last and the last first. 

The same idea is made evident by the choice of the first men 
to whom the Nativity was revealed. These were poor shepherds, 
wandering in the fields, not even farmers, still less rich or wise 
men. Wealth and Wisdom paid also their tribute, but they came 
later. Poverty and Innocence were privileged, and, among all 
workmen, shepherds were chosen, not only because they repre- 
sented a traditional trade of the Jews from the time of Abraham, 
but also because no human work offered a better symbol of the 
Christian doctrine. We hear a great deal in the Gospel of the 
husbandman tilling his field and sowing his corn on good and bad 
ground, and of the disciples who, after being fishers of fishes, be- 
came fishers of men, but the most frequent parables allude to the 
shepherd's work, not only the feeding of the sheep, but specially 
the rescue of the lost lamb which, after a long search, is brought 
back safely to the fold. Neither must we forget that, in the early 
days of Christian art, when the paintings in the catacombs and the 
sculptures on the sarcophagi were mostly symbolical, Christ was 
always represented under the features of the Good Shepherd, 
carrying the lamb on His back, according to His own words : " I am 
the Good Shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the 
sheep ^' (John x. ii). 

There are many good reasons why the shepherd should thus 
become the most perfect symbol of man. He leads a lonely 
and wandering life among the beasts for which he is responsible ; he 
guides them, he watches over them by day and night, mostly on 



THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS 43 

high-lying pastures with the valleys at his feet and the sky over 
his head, the sky in which he has learnt to read the hour and the 
direction of his ways. The nomadic life of the shepherd makes 
him independent of immediate surroundings. He lives among the 
simple and rugged outlines of wild landscapes, and it has been 
suggested, with some reason, that most monotheistic religions, 
such as Judaism and Mohammedanism, were born among pastoral 
tribes. 

The very life of the shepherd, which does not entail such 
an exacting labour as that of the agriculturist, but claims 
constant watchfulness, creates the contemplative spirit. Com- 
pared with the farmer, the shepherd is a dreamer. He was, for 
a long time, in Western Europe, the songster and the story-teller, 
the man through whom folk-lore was transmitted from generation 
to generation in every village. He is still, in some countries, a 
kind of poet or soothsayer. David, the poet prophet of Israel, 
was a shepherd. 

There were, according to St. Luke, several shepherds in the 
fields on Christmas Eve. Both Giotto and Gentile show us only 
two of them. Many times we find three shepherds in primitive 
paintings, as in the old Nativity plays and in some carols, 
but their number is never so restricted as that of the wise men or 
kings, and in more modern times the number increases in order 
to provide more animation for the scene. 

" And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory 
of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 
And the angel said unto them. Fear not. ..." 

This coming of the angel in the still and starht night and 
the fright of the shepherds is admirably described in the small 
scene in the back of Gentile's picture. For the third time, follow- 
ing St. Luke, the angel intervenes in the story, causing fear or 



44 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

trouble and reassuring his hearers. As in the case of the annun- 
ciation to Zacharias, he gives a sign as confirmation of his message. 
Zacharias was a priest, and doubted, and was made dumb. The 
ignorant shepherds are afraid but of ready faith, and the sign 
given to them is a Babe wrapped in swaddHng clothes and lying 
in a manger. 

At a later date, artists will describe the adoration of the 
shepherds as a separate incident, distinct from the Nativity. This 
subject, however, was not thus treated by the early artists, who 
were always preoccupied with interpreting the text closely and 
insisted on the fact that the annunciation to the shepherds took 
place at the same time as the Nativity. The shepherds and their 
flock become thus an incident of the Christmas scene : they are seen, 
either in the background, as in Gentile's picture, or in the fore-^ 
ground, as in Giotto's fresco ; but, in the latter case, the two scenes 
must be considered as enacted separately and as being divided by a 
long distance. Manifestly the shepherds are not concerned with 
the Babe in the manger, but only with the angel who appears to 
them and with the message he delivers. The group of sheep and 
goats at their feet link the two scenes together, for they might as 
well belong to the stable as to the flock. 

*' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the 
heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the 
highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." 

This heavenly manifestation is, perhaps, with the scene of 
Christ's Baptism and the Transfiguration the most conspicuous 
acknowledgment of Christ's divine character by heavenly voices 
and apparitions. It must be noticed that the choir of angels 
sang in the fields and disappeared into heaven before the shepherds 
took the resolution to go to Bethlehem. We find them, neverthe- 
less, on the roof of the stable in Giotto's Nativity and in those af 



THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS 45 

many masters of his time. It may be said that here they are part 
of the scene describing the annunciation to the shepherds, but the 
same remark is true of many pictures in which the shepherds do 
not appear. The angeHc message was, no doubt, for the artists, 
the necessary complement to the Nativity. Whether we choose 
to adopt the text of the Authorized Version of the Bible (" peace, 
good will towards men ") or that of the Latin version (" peace to 
men of goodwill "), the message can only be a message of Peace, 
not necessarily, as often stated, of peace between men, but specially 
of peace between God and man. It reasserts the old Covenant 
first given to Adam and later renewed to Noah and Abraham. 
It insists on the fact that no fundamental misunderstanding can 
any longer exist between God and man. Some ground for such a 
misunderstanding might have been found, in the Old Testament, 
in the fact that God spoke to man merely through prophets, who, 
being men themselves, were liable to error. The coming of 
Christ and the wonder of the Incarnation removed all possibility 
of misapprehension. Now God Himself was speaking to man- 
kind without using any messenger. No greater proof of good- 
will could He give, and no men of goodwill could listen to that 
voice without understanding it. 

" And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them 
into heaven, the shepherds said one to another. Let us now go even 
unto Bethlehem. . . . And they came with haste, and found 
Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger." 

The response of the shepherds to the annunciation is nearly as 
direct as that of Mary. They did not ask for a sign; it was given 
to them, not in token of the truth of the angeHc words, but in order 
that they should recognize the Child when they saw Him. Their 
enthusiasm and readiness to accept the miracle is immediately 
translated into action: "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem." 



46 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

Thus Peter said, later, after the Transfiguration : " If Thou wilt, let 
us make here three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, 
and one for Elias." For them also, *' it is good ... to be here," to 
witness such tremendous and touching miracles, to believe in them, 
and to act upon that belief. No wonder that, in our old carols, the 
shepherds sing or play on their pipes on their way to the stable. It 
is the chorus of mankind answering the chorus of angels. St. Luke 
tells us that they went " with haste," but not necessarily without 
snatching hurriedly some present to bring to the Child and the 
Mother. Popular tradition is insistent on this point. It seemed 
unbelievable that these good shepherds did not do for Mary 
what any peasant does every day on hearing of any ordinary birth : 
bring with him milk, bread, or other food, and perhaps some fuel 
for the hearth. Some continental carols make quite a feature of 
this subject, shepherds and shepherdesses discussing at great 
length the gifts which would be most appreciated, and some of 
the Renaissance painters show us the shepherds bringing some 
presents, in several instances a young lamb. But the earlier inter- 
preters of the Gospel scrupulously adhered to the text ; for them the 
shepherds' presents were manifestly a picturesque detail of second- 
ary importance. The essential thing is that, immediately on the 
revelation of the great news, they believed in it, went to see the 
Child, and " made known abroad the saying that was told them 
concerning " Him. Within a few hours, they accomplished the 
three cardinal duties of Christians: they heard the Gospel, they 
worshipped, and they spread the Gospel. It took the wise men, 
in spite of their education and riches, a long journey and many 
inquiries to do the same. The shepherds stand in the vanguard 
of Christianity; they are light of foot, unhampered by crown and 
heavy cloak and the possessions of this world. They are light- 
hearted and cheery as poor men should be; they do not ponder 



THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS 47 

on books nor scrutinize the skies; they need not search for the 
great light, it comes upon them. 

There are many ways to reach the truth — the long way of wis- 
dom, meditation, and experience, and the short way of innocence, 
childlikeness, and faith. The first may be the surest, but the 
second is certainly the quickest. 



CHAPTER VII 
THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI 



CHAPTER VII 
THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI 

THE next scene, according to St. Luke, ought to be the 
presentation of the Child in the Temple, which must have 
taken place after the Purification — that is to say, forty days after 
the Nativity. 

Guided by their instinct for artistic contrast, and by an early 
tradition which brought the magi and their brilliant train to the 
same poor stable previously visited by the shepherds, the masters 
of the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries introduced here the 
episode referred to by St. Matthew (ii.) and describing the visit 
and the homage paid by some '* wise men from the East '' to the 
Child and His Mother. 

Many commentators, for some reasons into the details of 
which we cannot here enter, place the presentation in the Temple 
between the adoration of the shepherds and the adoration of 
the magi, and suppose that the latter episode took place at a 
later date, when the Holy Family, which had gone back to 
Nazareth after the presentation in the Temple (Luke ii. 39), re- 
visited the scene of the Nativity. Both interpretations are open 
to criticism. 

We are placed before two distinct narratives: that of St. 
Matthew, making no reference to the shepherds and to the 
presentation in the Temple, and that of St. Luke, ignoring the 
visit of the wise men and the flight into Egypt. 

We need not, therefore, apologize for following the plan laid 



52 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

down by the old masters, which, whatever its defects, has at 
least the advantage of simplicity and artistic beauty. 

Let us, therefore, turn to St. Matthew's account: 

" Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea . . . behold 
there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem." 

These wise men were called magi, not necessarily because 
they were addicted to magical arts, but because they belonged to 
the sacerdotal caste of the Persians, who enjoyed the reputation 
of being freed from idolatry. They might have come from Persia 
or from Arabia, for the magi were not confined to the country of 
their origin. Their reputation for wisdom distinguished them 
among all Gentiles for receiving the privilege of the early reve- 
lation of the great miracle, announced by Eastern prophecies, and 
expected, not only in Judea, but also in the neighbouring countries. 

Thus the early worship of Christ foreshadows the destiny of 
the Christian Faith, the shepherds receiving the first message 
from the voice of the angels, the magi receiving the second 
message in the less distinct appearance of the star. 

The shepherds find their way to the stable without hesitation ; 
the magi have to inquire in Jerusalem before discovering the road 
to Bethlehem. Christ was born first for the good Jews of simple 
and humble heart, then for the wise men among the Gentiles who 
yearned for His coming. His Apostles were simple workmen of 
Galilee; His early adherents belonged to the Gentile world; and 
it was through their enthusiasm that the Faith spread towards 
Greece and Rome. 

It will be noticed that St. Matthew does not state either the 
social position of the magi or their number. The idea of the 
three kings is, nevertheless, a very early one, and was generally 
adopted by Christianity for many centuries before Gentile painted 
his picture. The idea of kingship was, very likely, suggested by 



THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI 53 

the precious character of the presents which the magi brought 
with them. In the earhest pictures, the kings appear merely 
clothed in Oriental costume, with the Phrygian cap and without 
any distinction of age; later on, we see the old king, the middle- 
aged king, and the young king, wearing the same costume; 
later still, in Giotto's pictures, for instance, the crown replaces 
the cap; and later still, as in our picture by Gentile painted at 
the beginning of the fifteenth century, the magi appear in the 
gorgeous apparel of Western kings and emperors of the period. 
About fifty years later, the Renaissance art introduces a new 
distinction, by giving to the young king the features of a negro, 
while the middle-aged king assumes an Oriental type, so that 
the main races are represented in the great act of worship which 
brings all mankind to the feet of the Child. 

The magi came to Jerusalem and asked : " Where is He that is 
born King of the Jews ? For we have seen His star in the east 
and are come to worship Him." Herod the king was troubled 
when he heard these things, and inquired of the priests and 
scribes " where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, 
In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet. 
. . . And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said. Go and search 
diligently for the young Child ; and when ye have found Him, bring 
me word again, that I may come and worship Him also." 

Our illustration shows us, on the same picture, the various 
episodes of the kings' pilgrimage. At the back, on the left, the 
three kings are seen on the top of a hill, watching the star, while 
their retinue, unaware of the miracle, awaits them on the road. 
In the central background of the middle panel, the brilliant cortege, 
with camels and horses, dogs and falcons, is shown approaching 
the entrance of Jerusalem, while, on the right, the three kings enter 
Bethlehem, where they have been sent by Herod. All the details 

9 



54 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

of the procession, made plainer still in the main picture in the 
foreground, are evidently inspired by similar scenes witnessed by 
Gentile in his own time. The courtiers' costumes and fanciful 
head-dresses are those of the Italian Early Renaissance, so are the 
horses' harness and the general apparel of hunting, with falcons and 
hounds. Camels, leopards, and monkeys were, no doubt, added to 
suggest the East ; but every feature of the landscape — mediaeval 
towns, well-tended fields, and evergreen trees — is typical of Umbria 
and Tuscany where the artist lived. Giotto and his followers 
treated the same subject again and again, but were never able to 
endow it with the same brilliancy. They were, no doubt, to a 
certain extent cramped by their strict respect for the text and 
their shyness at introducing boldly realistic incidents in the 
Gospel scene. It is, perhaps, the only episode which received a 
better treatment at the hands of the Early Renaissance painters, 
at a period when the spirit of deep devotion was not yet lost, while 
artistic imagination was allowed more scope. 

When they saw the star " standing over where the young 
Child was, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." There can 
be no doubt that for St. Matthew the star was a purely miraculous 
apparition. It was only seen by the kings, who deserved the 
revelation, and remained unnoticed by their followers and by 
Herod and the Pharisees, otherwise it would have been unnecessary 
for them to suggest that the magi should come back from Beth- 
lehem and give an account of their journey. The early artists 
remain generally faithful to this interpretation. Sometimes, 
while one of the kings is kneeling, another points to the star 
standing over the roof, but the attendants remain unconcerned. 
This unconcern is curiously emphasized by Gentile. Some of 
the courtiers and servants exchange jokes, one watches a 
falcon killing a bird, another unfastens the spur of his master. 



THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI 55 

No one, except the three kings, seems really concerned in the won- 
drous Child and His Mother. Just as the shepherds had been 
chosen, among all the Jews, for the revelation of Christ's birth, so 
the magi were chosen, among all Gentiles, as the only ones worthy 
of this great privilege. 

" And when they were come into the house, they saw the young 
Child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshipped Him : 
and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto 
Him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh." The allusion 
to treasures suggests the idea that besides the three symbolic 
presents the kings brought to the Child and His parents valuable 
gifts ; hence the belief in their great wealth and power and the 
strong contrast established between the two adorations, whereby 
the humblest and the mightiest in the land join in the act of 
worship. 

The three presents are contained in golden vessels. The first 
one has already been handed to the attendants of the Virgin, who 
wonder at its costliness, their attitude contrasting with that of 
Joseph and Mary, intent on the spiritual meaning of the scene. 
This distraction and worldliness of the two attendants balances, 
on the left of the picture, the animated scene on the right in which 
the retinue show their indifference to their masters' errand, while 
the looks of Mary and Joseph, on the left, and of the two younger 
kings, on the right, are centred on the little Child patting the bald 
head of the old king, who kisses His feet. 

The meaning of the three symbolic gifts has often been 
explained. Gold stands apparently for kingship, whether in this 
world, as the question put to Herod by the magi may suggest, or 
in the other, which better corresponds to the meaning of the other 
gifts, frankincense standing manifestly for worship, and myrrh 
(which was offered to Christ on the Cross and used in embalming 



56 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

His body), for suffering and martyrdom. We have alluded before 
to the apprehensive attitude of Mary at the Annunciation, which 
was very much emphasized by certain artists and derived from 
their own knowledge of the sufferings which the angelic salutation 
implied, but until now we have not found a word in the Gospel 
concerning Christ's future martyrdom. The gift of myrrh by the 
youngest and fairest king is the first warning which the Holy 
Family receive. It will be confirmed at a later stage by the clear 
prophecy of Simeon in the Temple. Considered in this way, the 
scene assumes an intensely dramatic meaning. While the servants 
are still admiring the gold brought by the eldest king, and while 
Joseph and Mary witness the magnificent homage paid to the Child, 
which confirms all their hopes, the young king somewhat pity- 
ingly looks upon the scene and holds delicately between his fingers 
the brilliant vessel hiding the terrible secret. It is at the climax 
of the Child's glory that the tragedy of His end is revealed. The 
days of joy and triumph will soon be over. Herod has begun 
already to plot against the Infant's life, the first great persecution 
is at hand. But the angels are still hovering around the Child to 
protect His weakness and allow Him to fulfil His tragic and glorious 
destiny. They warn the kings '' in a dream that they should not 
return to Herod," and they depart for their own country without 
going through Jerusalem. 

Such is the simple episode which, more than any other perhaps 
in the whole Gospel, stimulated the imagination of the great 
painters. It corresponds in the story of Christ's childhood to 
the entrance into Jerusalem in the story of His active life. It 
is the supreme moment of glory when, for once, the Son of God 
receives the homage due to Him at all times. It is the fugitive 
climax of happiness during which humble and wise, rich and 
poor. East and West, are reconciled, and as the triumph at the 



THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI 57 

gate of Jerusalem precedes the Passion, it precedes the flight into 
Egypt and the massacre of the Innocents. 

Along the silent roads leading to Arabia or to Persia, Melchior, 
Caspar, and Balthazar, as tradition calls them, returned to their 
respective kingdoms. Their heart was full of the vision of the 
Child they had left behind. They rejoiced in the fulfilment of 
the promise that they had expected for so long. They went 
back satisfied, for they had seen the King of kings, lying in the 
arms of a poor woman. They rejoiced; some say they sang on 
the way; but the star no longer guided their steps. 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE 

IF we follow St. Matthew's story, we should now deal with 
the flight into Egypt. As explained above, we have, however, 
first to come back to St. Luke's text referring to the presentation 
in the Temple, which is the sequence adopted by all primitive 
painters in the series of frescoes or paintings devoted to the child- 
hood of Christ. 

In order to combine the two stories we must suppose that the 
visit of the magi took place during the forty days of the purifi- 
cation, after which the Child was brought to Jerusalem " to present 
him to the Lord; as it is written in the law of the Lord." 

Joseph and Mary followed scrupulously the old law established 
for the Jews by Moses. The evangelists never tire of insisting 
on this observance of the old law, and Christ himself declared 
explicitly that he had come to " fulfil the law," not to destroy it. 
The links between the Old and the New Testament can be traced 
in every verse of this part of the Gospel. It is not only that the 
evangelists are anxious to show that the coming of the Lord was 
accompanied by all the incidents mentioned in the old prophecies, 
but also that they w^ant to impress upon us the constructive 
character of the Christian Faith. When a good rule or a good 
law has been established through the inspiration of God, it is 
left to men to interpret it. Some of them, who may be very 
learned in this law, and whose hearts have been hardened by the 
pride they take in their virtuous attitude towards the world, 

6i lo 



62 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

follow the letter of the law, not its spirit. Such was the attitude 
of the Pharisees, who were the most bitter enemies of Christ, and 
persecuted Him ceaselessly up to the foot of the Cross and even 
in His tomb. They were not necessarily evil-minded men, and 
some of them, no doubt, imagined that they were serving God 
by fighting a new prophet who dared to interpret the law in a 
different way and to build upon its foundations a new Church. 
They could not, or would not, realize that the long-expected 
Messiah, instead of strengthening their power, could possibly 
devote His energies to preach a Gospel of meekness and charity 
which placed the poor and unlearned on the same level as them- 
selves, and softened the rigidity of certain prescriptions by an 
overwhelming and ever- forgiving love. 

Such is really the conflict between the Christian and the Pharisee, 
but it must not lead us to think either that Christ rejected the 
old law or that all those who were devoted to the old law rejected 
Christ. 

" And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name 
was Simeon ; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the 
consolation of Israel . . . and it was revealed unto him by the 
Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the 
Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and 
when the parents brought in the child Jesus, . . . then took he 
Him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said ..." 

This does not mean simply that Simeon was righteous in a 
general way, but that he observed scrupulously the law. Some 
say that he was connected with the Temple. He represents the 
good man of the old law who, unlike the Pharisees, was humble 
enough not to determine beforehand the intentions of God and 
the circumstances of the coming of the Messiah, but who, led by 
a generous and open mind, was able to recognize Him, even when 



THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE 63 

He appeared to him carried in the arms of a poor woman. He 
took Him into his arms as the old law ought to have embraced the 
new if its eyes had been open. It is true that his greeting of 
Jesus comes after that of the shepherds and the kings, but this 
circumstance does not make it less wonderful and eloquent. His 
great prayer, the Nunc Dimittis, is repeated daily in every church, 
and is only equalled by the Magnificat (Mary's answer to Elisabeth 
during the Visitation) and by the angelic salutation to Mary. 

Giotto's interpretation of the scene is perhaps the most striking 
example of his power of conveying words with a look or a simple 
gesture. One feels that the venerable old man looks upon the little 
Child as upon the fulfilment of a wonderful promise, for which he 
has never ceased to strive and to work during all the days of his 
life. He holds Him carefully, not even daring to touch His body 
with his hands, and looks and looks intently, feeding his yearning 
soul with the blessed sight : '' Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant 
depart in peace, according to Thy word : for mine eyes haVe seen 
Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all 
people ; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people 
Israel." 

It has been suggested that the Child was struggling in Simeon's 
arms in order to go back to the Virgin. It seems rather as if 
Giotto had seized the moment when, after his speech, Simeon was 
handing back the Child to His Mother, with a last long look in his 
eyes. The left arm of the Child is still resting on his shoulder, and 
Mary stands prepared to receive her precious burden. An angel, 
flying above, witnesses the scene, as in practically all the episodes 
relating to Christ's childhood, the old painters insisting on the 
watchfulness of the Father's messengers over the first hesitating 
steps of His Child in the world. The pigeons or turtle-doves brought 
by Joseph as an offering are mentioned by St. Luke, and afford 



64 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

a new sign of the poor conditions in which the parents found 
themselves. Any rich man, according to the law, would have 
brought a lamb. All the animals associated with Christ's child- 
hood are the humblest and most peaceful in all creation : the 
sheep and the lambs of the shepherds, the patient ox, the long- 
enduring ass, and the gentle doves. Again, we may wonder at the 
simple dignity of Giotto's composition and at his art of expressing 
so much with such simple means. The central tabernacle and the 
altar suffice to indicate the interior of the temple. The group of 
Simeon with the Child and Anna on the right balances the group 
of Mary, Joseph, and the attendant on the left, while the sweeping 
lines of Mary's and Simeon's draperies lead our eyes to the Child 
towards whom the faces and the looks of all the characters of 
the scene are turned. 

Simeon blessed both Joseph and Mary, but, when moved by the 
prophetic spirit, addressed the Mother alone, for Mary alone will 
witness the Passion: " Behold, this Child is set for the fall and 
rising again of many in Israel ; and for a sign which shall be spoken 
against ; yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also, 
that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." Up till 
then, the trial of the Passion had only been suggested by the gift 
of myrrh brought by the youngest of the magi. It is left to 
Simeon, who was better acquainted with the political and religious 
position prevailing in Jerusalem at the time, to tear the veil of 
the future, and reveal the tragic truth — namely, that Jesus was 
going to be the cause of great divisions in Israel, that many should 
fall for not acknowledging Him, and that few should rise by 
following Him. The soul of Mary should be pierced by the sword, 
as the body of her Child by the nails of the Crucifixion, and the 
blood of her soul should flow with the blood of His body, in order 
" that the thoughts of many hearts should be revealed." For 



THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE 65 

the Passion was the cause of Judas 's betrayal and of Peter's denial, 
but also of Mary Magdalene's vision, and of the Apostles' stubborn 
faith. It was then the great test of courage and character, as 
it is still to-day for every one of us. For Christianity is the only 
religion which founded its spiritual triumph on the wreckage of 
all its worldly hopes. 

*' And there was one Anna, a prophetess ... of the tribe of 
Aser: she was of great age . . . and she was a widow of about 
fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but 
served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she 
coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, 
and spake of Him to all them that looked for redemption in 
Jerusalem." She carries in her hand a scroll on which is written : 
" Quoniam in isto, erit redemtio seculi " (Since in Him shall be the 
redemption of the race) . Simeon announces the Passion, Anna the 
Redemption, fruit of the Passion. Simeon represents the pious 
Jew belonging to the two faithful tribes of Judah and Benjamin ; 
Anna, the pious Israelite, belonging to the tribe of Aser, one of the 
ten tribes which seceded from Jerusalem at the time of Rehoboam, 
son of Solomon. 

By now, representatives of the whole world have rendered 
homage to the Child, and testified of His divinity — the Jews, 
the Gentiles, the rabbis, and the Israelites. The series of 
miracles proclaiming and confirming the coming of the Lord is also 
complete. Every age and both sexes are there. A Virgin 
(Mary), a married woman (Elisabeth), an old widow (Anna). 
The three women are equally moved by the prophetic spirit, so 
are Zacharias and Simeon and the kings themselves, whose 
gifts foreshadow Christ's destiny. All activities and trades have 
also their share in the action. The ignorant shepherds, the simple 
carpenter (Joseph), and the learned magi, those belonging to the 



66 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

Temple and those outside the Temple. The old prophecies have 
been verified, new prophecies have been uttered under divme 
inspiration. The old tree of the law is at last blossoming, and 
the gales have not yet come which will scatter its fruit. 

Thus, from the very beginning, the universal character of the 
Christian Faith is proclaimed by the evangelists. Christ was 
born for rich and poor alike, for shepherds and for kings, for the 
Jews and for the Gentiles, for the privileged tribes and for the 
Israelites, for the men of all ages, of all creeds, of all trades. Even 
when His hand is not large enough to hold an apple. His universal 
charity extends throughout the world. A few chosen men, in 
every class, have already recognized Him. He cannot call them 
to Him, for He is only a helpless Babe, but the Holy Ghost brings 
them to Him and the spirit of His Father hovers around Him 
like the bright angel in Giotto's serene blue sky. 



CHAPTER IX 
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT 



CHAPTER IX 
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT 

WE can now take up St. Matthew's story at the point where 
we left it — that is to say, when the magi, " warned of God 
in a dream that they should not return to Herod," had gone back 
direct to their own country. Herod, frustrated in his plans 
(he had evidently hoped that the magi would have given him 
innocently the whereabouts of the Child), decided to murder 
all the infants of the district. His instructions were, of course, 
kept secret, but, once more, an angel intervened, and appeared 
to Joseph in a dream, saying: "Arise, and take the young Child 
and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I 
bring thee word : for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy 
Him." 

It is worthy of notice that the angel appeared this time to 
Joseph, not to Mary, Joseph's divine mission being to protect 
the Child during His helpless years. The Incarnation of God in 
man is made more perfect by the contrast existing between the 
part of Mary, acting as mother, and Joseph, acting as father and 
taking the important decisions and the leadership, as far as active 
hfe is concerned. Joseph does not occupy the foreground in 
St. Luke, but St. Matthew gives him greater importance. An 
angel had already appeared to him in order to instruct him on the 
divine origin of the Child, and on the name he was to give Him 
(Matt. i. 2i). It is Joseph again who, according to tradition, 
looks after the Virgin and provides for her needs during the journey 

69 II 



70 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

to Bethlehem at the time of the Nativity. He fills, no doubt with 
greater humility than an ordinary good father, but with as much 
patience and steadfastness, the part of the father in the Holy 
Family. 

When children learn to worship Jesus, they must not only 
realize that God chose the frail vessel of a poor woman's babe for 
His supreme Incarnation, but they must learn that a woman was 
found noble enough to bring into the world a divine Child, and 
to look after Him, and that a man was found worthy of the 
tremendous responsibility of watching over them both. When- 
ever we think of the Child, we think also of motherhood and 
fatherhood and of the sacred bond of marriage. The Incarnation 
not only conferred on the human race the greatest privilege 
which was ever conferred upon it — that of embodying the 
Divine Spirit — but it exalted family life to the dignity of a 
sacrament. 

Since the days of Bethlehem, of Egypt, and of Nazareth, the 
mothers and fathers, looking after their earthly children, not 
only fulfil the noblest of natural duties, but a task which amounts 
to an act of worship, since every child has become the image of the 
infant Jesus, while the relations between children and parents 
have become a parable of the relations between manhood and 
God, and the affection due to the father on earth stands only 
second, in every child, to that which he expresses, in his daily 
prayers, to our Father in heaven. 

The type given to Joseph by the early Italian painters is 
worthy of notice. That he should be an aged man is in accordance 
with all the early traditions relating to the marriage of the Virgin, 
but the painters give him very energetic features and a remarkable 
likeness to Peter, as if they had tried to show that it did not need 
less strength of character to protect the first steps of Jesus in the 



THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT 71 

world than to uphold the first efforts of His newborn Church. 
Like Peter, Joseph is essentially human, and not above certain 
weaknesses (he is seen asleep in the Nativity pictures, as Peter 
in the Garden of Olives), but he has also St. Peter's profound 
humility and extraordinary readiness to obey blindly the com- 
mands of God. He is not like St. John the mystic flower, nor 
like St. Paul the burning mouth, but like St. Peter he is the good 
servant, steady and strong, the rock on which the Church is 
built. 

" When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by 
night, and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death 
of Herod.'' 

The choice of Egypt is foreshadowed by former prophecies. 
Egypt was a great centre of learning ; it had played a 
prominent part in the history of the Jews. The old law 
had been founded at the time of the return of Israel from 
Egypt to Palestine ; it was, therefore, fit that the new law 
should be preached after a similar return and similar per- 
secutions. 

It was a long journey, which could only be made slowly over 
difficult roads and through a barren country. It has, neverthe- 
less, been transformed by popular imagination into one of the 
happiest incidents of Christ's childhood. Our illustration is not 
taken, this time, from Giotto's series of frescoes in Padua, but 
from another series of frescoes, equally remarkable, decorating 
the lower church of Assisi, erected in the fourteenth century over 
St. Francis's tomb. It was painted either by Giotto himself 
or by one of his ablest pupils. 

The angelic influence is again made apparent, one angel flying 
straight ahead, while the other, turned towards the fugitives, 
points out the way. 



72 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

Joseph, walking at the head of the ass, carries a bundle on his 
stick, while two attendants, also laden with provisions for the 
journey, walk behind. 

The bending palm-tree, in the midst of the picture, suggests, 
no doubt, the miraculous help which, according to old stories, was 
given to the travellers by nature itself. 

One day when, exhausted, they were suffering sorely from 
thirst, water sprang under their feet at the bidding of Christ, 
transforming the arid desert into a flowered meadow. Another 
day when they were threatened with hunger, a tree bent before 
them in order to allow them to pluck its fruit. 

What would have been, under ordinary circumstances, a most 
painful exodus became thus an almost idyllic journey, during 
which the Holy Family, under Divine guidance, were able to over- 
come, without trouble, all natural obstacles, and to enjoy the 
friendliness of the inanimate world. From this point of view, the 
flight into Egypt forms the fourth episode of Jesus 's childhood, 
adding the adoration of nature to that of the shepherds, of the 
kings, and of Simeon. 

These stories have, of course, no foundation, but they show 
us the vivid faith with which the popular mind of early Christians 
endeavoured to explain and complete the all too short narrative 
of the Gospel. If they cannot be justified in fact, they must at 
least be distinguished from the artificial and superficial ornaments 
introduced by the Renaissance art. They do not alter, in the 
slightest degree, the spirit of the Gospel, and their tender 
fancies do not detract from the simple earnestness of the holy 
story. 

'' Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise 
men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children 
that were in Bethlehem . . . from two years old and under, 



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THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS 

BY FRA ANGELICO 



Photo by Alinari 
(San Marco, Florence) 



P- 73 



THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT 73 

according to the time which he had dihgently enquired of the 



wise men." 



This last sentence certainly suggests that one year, at least, 
had elapsed between the Nativity and the flight into Egypt. 
It is often quoted by those who contend that the adoration of the 
magi occurred at a much later date than that of the shepherds. 
Herod, according to them, would not have found necessary, 
otherwise, to slaughter all the children under two years of age. 
One might, however, quote a good many instances in history 
when a tyrant, on the slightest and most unfounded suspicion, 
indulged in perfectly useless cruelties. Indeed, it is one of the 
most constant characteristics of tyranny to give way to ridiculous 
fear and try to allay it by frightfulness. Cruelty and cowardice 
walk hand in hand in this world ; they manifest themselves by the 
massacre of the Innocents, at the time of Christ's birth, and by the 
trials and tortures inflicted upon Him at the time of His Passion. 
The same dread which provoked the slaughter of the children of 
Bethlehem prompts the hatred of Annas, Caiaphas and their 
followers, and that of the emperors who persecuted Christian 
martyrs. 

Our illustration is taken from a series of small pictures on the 
Hfe of Christ by Era Angehco, now in San Marco, in Florence; 
it shows the king urging his rather unwiUing soldiers to the 
dreadful task, which they are bound to accompUsh by the 
dictates of discipline. 

Strangely enough, Fra Angehco, who, painting nearly a century 
later, had lost a great deal of Giotto's dramatic power, was able 
to give us a far more impressive interpretation of the story than 
Giotto. The latter was manifestly hampered by the complexity 
of incidents required by the subject. Notice the contrast between 
the terrace on which Herod appears, with flowers growing in vases, 



74 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

and well-trained vine, against a limpid blue sky, and the terrible 
scene in the foreground. The women, no doubt, have been 
trapped; the door, to the right, has been shut against them, and 
the soldiers are pouring in through the door on the left. It has 
been suggested that such scenes ought never to be described, and 
this certainly seems true when one thinks of the use made of this 
episode by later artists, who uselessly insisted on its horror; but, 
for Giotto and Fra Angelico and the artists of their time, painting 
was still teaching. The massacre could no more be missed from 
the wall than the verses dealing with it from the Bible. It 
filled a necessary part in the scheme of Christ's childhood, by 
revealing evil in its nakedness, typified by the tyrant, Herod, as 
opposed to the goodness of the shepherds, the magi, Simeon, and 
Anna. 

Christ had come to redeem mankind from the sin prompted 
by Satan. Satan accepted the fight. The massacre is merely the 
first of his efforts, which are pursued through the temptation in 
the desert, the persecutions of the Pharisees, the treason of Judas, 
and only end with the ordeal of the Passion. 

If it be asked why Jesus had to fly before Herod's 
soldiers, it may be answered that He only deliberately delivered 
Himself into the hands of His enemies when He knew that 
His hour had come and that His work on earth was accom- 
plished. 

The miracle of the Incarnation did not loosen Satan's hold 
on the hearts of men. Such a result could only be obtained 
through the great sacrifice. Till then, the Son of God, 
having adopted the form of man, with its natural weakness, 
had to adapt Himself to human circumstances, and to avoid 
danger rather than to fight. *' Thinkest thou that I cannot now 
pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than 



THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT 75 

twelve legions of angels ?" (Matt. xxvi. 53) says Christ to Peter 
in the Garden of Olives in the dreadful hour of His arrest. He 
might have said that and done that from the first, if His mission 
had been to conquer by force. But He had a far longer and 
more painful way to tread, for His mission was to conquer by 
love only. 



CHAPTER X 
CHRIST AMONG THE DOCTORS 



12 



CHAPTER X 
CHRIST AMONG THE DOCTORS 

IT is very much to be regretted that, while knowing at least 
some episodes of Christ's childhood, and being fully informed 
through the four Gospels of His active hfe and Passion, we should 
remain so ignorant concerning His boyhood. 

He was still a babe when He was taken to Egypt, and He was 
thirty years of age when He began to preach. Between these 
two dates there is a wide gap, which we can only fill with a few 
verses of St. Matthew and the short episode in St. Luke, referring 
to the Child among the doctors. 

We are not even helped much by popular legends. This lack 
of information is easy enough to understand. The Gospel writers 
want to record first of all Christ's teaching and sacrifice, which 
are the very basis on which His Church is formed. The references 
to His childhood are only made by St. Luke and St. Matthew, more 
to confirm Jesus' divine origin than to tell us the story of His 
life in chronological order. These references do not seem to be 
essential to the story, but rather to have been added as a sort of 
confirmation of its holy character. Although the Gospel gives 
us more than enough for our moral guidance, we cannot help 
feeling that a few more details on the formation and development 
of Christ's personality, from childhood to manhood, would have 
been of enormous educational value. Christ sanctified all the 
ages of man ; it is part of the mystery of the Incarnation that the 
image of babe, boy, and man should be consecrated by His life. 

7Q 



8o THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

Of the latter we know much, of the first we possess at least a few 
suggestive stories, but on the second we can glean but scant 
information ; its very scarcity makes it more precious. 

St. Matthew tells us (ii. 19) that, after Herod's death, an 
angel appeared to Joseph in Egypt, telling him to go back to the 
" land of Israel." And there is good reason to believe that the 
destination of the Holy Family, on their way back from Egypt, 
was Bethlehem, where the Child had been born and recognized 
by the shepherds and kings, and whose name was connected 
with the prophecies referring to Him. 

When, however, Joseph heard that " Archelaus did reign in 
Judea, in the room of his father Herod,'' he was afraid to settle 
there, as he knew that the future King of the Jews would be sought 
there. Therefore, " being warned of God in a dream, he turned 
aside " and went to Nazareth, which had been his former home. 

Nazareth was only a small village of Galilee, and the Galileans 
were looked upon with scorn by the pure Jews. '' Nazarene " was, 
therefore opposed in derision to the title of King of the Jews on 
the inscription fixed on the Cross on Golgotha. A man of Nazareth 
could obviously not be the king expected by the Pharisees, who 
applied this term of contempt to the early Christians, who, in their 
turn, gloried in it. 

Christ was born in Bethlehem, and was, through His mother's 
ancestry, a true son of David, but it was not His intention to use 
these titles in order to increase His power. He wanted to be 
acknowledged, not for the sake of old prophecies, but for His own 
merit and actions. Instead of appearing with the glamour of 
noble lineage and renowned origin. He disguised His Godhead under 
the veil of humble birth, spending His youth in a despised village. 
He was called, by His enemies, the son of a Galilean carpenter; 
His true birth was only revealed to His friends and disciples, who 



CHRIST AMONG THE DOCTORS 8i 

understood His teaching, for knowledge and formal testimonies will 
only lead us to God after we have made a spiritual effort to listen 
to His voice; they only confirm our faith, but cannot awake it. 

According to St. Luke also (ii. 39), the Holy Family settled 
in Nazareth. He tells us that every year Joseph and Mary took 
the Child to Jerusalem, at the Feast of the Passover, according to 
the law. This law applied to men only, and the fact that Mary 
and Jesus accompanied Joseph shows the zeal with which they 
fulfilled their religious duties, even at certain risks, considering 
that Judea had previously been avoided by them on account of 
possible persecutions. 

.We are told that, when Jesus was twelve years old — that is to 
say, when He had become a catechumen and was being instructed 
in the law. His parents took Him to Jerusalem ** after the custom 
of the Feast." When the time came to return to Nazareth, the 
Child could not be found, but they, " supposing Him to have been 
in the company, went a day's journey." As, however, they could 
not discover Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances under- 
taking the same journey, '* they turned back again to Jerusalem, 
seeking Him." After three days '* they found Him in the temple, 
sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking 
them questions." That is exactly what a catechumen should do. 

The doctors preached in the Temple, and all the faithful were 
allowed to question them. But this time the pupil became the 
teacher, for, in the next verse, St. Luke tells us that " all that 
heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers." 
Further discussions between Jesus and the doctors during His 
active life show us how this might have come to pass. 

More than once, Christ prefers to ask questions, particularly 
of His opponents, but they are, most of them, leading questions, 
suggesting more clearly His meaning than any well-ordered argu- 



82 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

ment. No doubt some of these startling questions were asked 
by the Child, and the doctors being unable to give satisfactory 
answers, the Questioner was in His turn questioned, and amazed 
His audience by His answers. 

This moment, when the Child reveals His miraculous wisdom, 
has usually been chosen by the old painters who illustrate the 
story. Jesus is represented sitting in the midst of the doctors. 
His right hand uplifted, while the old men who surround Him 
show evident signs of awe and wonder. Joseph and Mary appear, 
outside the circle, the Mother stretching out her hands in silent 
appeal. *' And when they saw Him, they were amazed: and His 
mother said unto Him, Son, why hast Thou thus dealt with us ? 
behold, Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing." We must, 
therefore, presume that, as soon as Jesus saw His parents, He 
stood up, left the circle of wondering sages, and came to them. His 
answer has often been misunderstood. " How is it that ye sought 
Me? wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?" 
Superficially, it may seem like a reproof, as if Jesus reproached 
His earthly parents, because they forgot His holy birth and His 
Divine mission, and because they disturbed Him in the fulfilment 
of it. Such an interpretation would not only be against the 
spirit of the Gospel, but would contradict the conclusion of the 
story, which shows Christ leaving the Temple without demur, 
and following His parents to Nazareth '' being subject to them." 
This misunderstanding might have been avoided if a more 
accurate translation of the Greek text had been given. What 
Christ said was not that He must be about His Father's business, 
but that He must be about His Father's house — that is to say, 
in the Temple; and if He asks His parents why they sought Him 
so long, it was merely because He never realized that they could 
be anxious about Him, knowing that He must have found a safe 



CHRIST AMONG THE DOCTORS 83 

haven in the Temple. Understood this way, the words seem to be 
uttered far more in self- justification than in reproach. 

The illustration we have chosen, from the series of frescoes in 
Assisi, shows the Child leaving the Temple with His parents. 
This subject has not been treated nearly so often as Christ among 
the doctors, but it is more interesting, because it gives us a closer 
understanding of the relationship existing between the boy and 
His parents. Joseph evidently plays the part of the father in this 
intimate scene; he leads the way, turning back towards the Child, 
not in anger, but in reproach, for the anxiety He has caused them. 
The Boy, whose youth for once is not exaggerated in the illustration 
of this episode, meets His father's eyes, clinging to His gown as if to 
excuse Himself. '' I did not know that I could give you cause 
for anxiety." The mother shows a wonderful serenity, in contrast 
with Joseph's worried expression; already she keeps these things 
in her heart. She is followed by three elderly women, no doubt 
some friends from Nazareth, or some relations, who helped the 
parents in their search for Jesus. Once more, the old artist 
affords us help in our understanding of the Gospel story; he 
insists not so much on the Divine character of the Child as on His 
perfect obedience and humility. His success in the Temple is 
merely a foreshadowing of the great sermons of His manhood. 
But, though He could not help tarrying in the Temple to hear, and 
even to speak Himself when questioned, Jesus is still a child, and, 
as a child, must submit His divinity to His parents' will, whether 
they understand Him or not. 

It may seem strange that the only story, which has come to 
our knowledge, bearing on Christ's boyhood should exalt the 
virtue of obedience, whilst so often in His sermons He insists on 
the fact that our duty to our Heavenly Father must stand 
above all other duties. But, if we consider this question with 



84 THE CHILDHOOD OF CHRIST 

some attention, we shall soon realize why so much importance 
is given to obedience in this episode, and why St. Luke, not 
content with telHng us that Jesus followed His parents without 
delay, states clearly that during all the time He spent in Nazareth 
" He was subject unto them." 

If we cannot obey our earthly father during our youth, how 
can we expect to be able to obey our Heavenly Father when we 
have come of age ? Surely the orders of parents are more easy 
to follow than the orders of God. Far less is asked of us, far less 
is expected. If our humility, if our obedience is untrained when 
we are only asked to walk, how can we ever expect to fulfil our 
task on the day when we shall be asked to run ? It is no use to 
say that, as children, we do not understand some orders — and to 
oppose liberty to obedience. Liberty can only give us a false 
material freedom ; it is through obedience and humility only that we 
can conquer spiritual freedom, and learn to follow the laws of our 
God who is enthroned in our own heart. We can only find ourselves 
if we lose ourselves. We can only feel free if our self is bound and 
fettered so completely that it cannot disturb or hinder our contact 
or relation with God. 

If God Himself, therefore, incarnate in a Boy, obeyed His 
father Joseph so meekly, it is in order that all Christian earthly 
children should obey their true fathers. If Christ's divinity 
followed the orders of those who did not understand Him, it is in 
order that we should follow, as children, the steps of those who 
understand us, and, as men, the example of Jesus Himself, who 
gave us His humility as an armour against the world, and His 
obedience as the staff to lean upon on the steep and winding road 
leading us to salvation. 

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